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Category Archives: World News
KVC Activities, World News, World Vegfest
September 2, 2018 kenyavegclub
23rd The opening ceremony of the event (only by invitation)
5.00 pm: Press conference by Nitin Bhai Mehta, Marley, Emmanuel (only by invitation)
6.30 pm: to be seated at the Auditorium Hall
6.45 pm: opening ceremony with Kenyan and Indian anthem, Diya Lighting, Candle lighting
6.55 pm: Local dance
7.10 pm: Introductory speech by MC
7.15 pm: Speech by IVU chair – Marley
7.25 pm: speech by KVC – Vaishali
7.35 pm: speech by Emmanuel Eohy
7.45 pm: speaker – Mary Muthoni Muriuki (Director – women & gender – KNCCI)
7.55 pm: speaker – Manish Shah
8.05 pm: Indian Dance
8.15 pm: Vote of thanks
8.20 pm: speaker – Darshan Chanderia
8.30 pm: Speaker – Manu bhai Chanderia
8.40 pm: Speaker – Mr. Sharad Rao
8.50 pm: Speech by Chief Guest – High Commissioner of India to Kenya Mr. Rahul Chhabra
9.10 pm: dinner
24th Nov: List of event during the conference:
10.30 am: Opening ceremony of the conference, MC will state the purpose
10.45:Demo – Sheila – performing yoga for different purposes
11.00: speaker – Vedanti Ben – Brahma Kumari Africa
11.15: demonstration of yoga by Africa yoga centre (Nyakinyua Chege)
11.45: speaker – Khilan Shah – Bhakti Marg Kenya (topic – True Yoga and Veganism, what's the relation?)
12.00: Speaker – Shilpa Haria – Bhakti Marg Kenya, A living testimony of how true Yoga, vegan diet and spirituality an heal chronic diseases
12.15: Jessika Ava (ProVeg)
12.30: Marley (IVU chair)
12.45: Victor Sjodin (USA)
1.00: lunch
2.00: demonstration by chef – Coach Vie (non cooking)
2.20: demo by chef – Katya – European food with desert
2.40: Demo by Darshana – Jain vegan food
3.10: Demo by Chetna Desai – Indian vegan food
3.30: speaker – Rukma prabhuji – Iskon
3.45: Amy Rapp (TNR Trust)
4.00: Nitin Dawar (Art of living)
4.15: Ady Coulibaly (Ghana)
4.30: Tea Break
5.00: speaker – Cynthia Schuck (IVU – USA)
5:15: speaker – Tarure Gatere (NLP master, vegan activist)
5.30: speaker –
5.45: speaker – Wanjiru Mahihu (how to grow organic roses)
6.00: Speaker:
6.15: Closing ceremony – MC's remark, vote of thanks, closing remarks by Marley, announce the winner of essay competition and science exhibition, hand over the flag of IVU to Jessika, gifts to speakers of the day, dinner
Exhibition on 24th Nov. 2018
The exhibition is free to all visitors. Following people and organisation will participate in the same.
School children with science presentation
organic farmers
religious centres
leather free products
Vendors for the stalls:
If you sell vegan / vegetarian food, leather substitute products, meat substitute products, organic produce, vegan cheese or any such products; you are welcome to join us in the exhibition. The stall is costing only KSH 2000/- for one day which includes meal for two people of each stall.
You may call Priti Shah on +254 714222156.
March 31, 2018 kenyavegclub
Under the auspices of the international vegetarian union, the Kenya Vegetarian Club is honoured to officially present sponsorship and exhibition opportunities for the forthcoming 46th IVU Kenya World Vegfest 2018 to be held from November 23 – 25 at the Oshwal Center in Nairobi, Kenya.
The IVU World Vegfest is an annual global event designed as a platform for all vegetarian associations, societies, agencies, academicians, researchers and individuals from all parts of the globe to converge, to share and promote the concept of vegetarianism as a standard for healthy living and sustainability. The event will involve a variety of activities such as lectures, tree planting, cooking demonstration by local chefs, Karura Forest Walk, Yoga sessions, exhibition and stalls of vegetarian and vegan food, exhibition of local products, organic products, meat substitutes, health and wellness products, etc.
The event provides a platform for sponsors to target a unique audience. As a sponsor, you will have access to exhibition stalls during the event and also have your brand on the event banners and all communication materials (magazine, posters, fliers, newspaper articles etc). Maximize your visibility, network, educate, and showcase your company! International and Local exhibitors will be displaying their products and services and this is an opportunity for your company gain coverage through TV, Radio, social media, and other communication channels.
Here are the three (3) main sponsorship categories:
Platinum Sponsor – 500,000 KSH
Exhibition space during the two-day event
Video advert (5 min or less in duration) played during the event in opening ceremony
Company's logo on Newsprint Advert/ Kenya Veg Club
Website/Posters
Logo on printed material: Brochure, Media Kits, packaging,
bags, t-shirts, banner, mail outs
Company's logo & Name on Main Conference Backdrop
Certificate of Appreciation
Letter of Acknowledgement
Gold Sponsor – 350,000 KSH
Exhibition space during the two-day event – bigger
Silver Sponsor – 250,000 KSH
Exhibition space – smaller
Other sponsorships
Stall at the exhibition – 50,000
Banner at the venue – 25,000
Food sponsorship – 400/- per person for per meal
Invitation card, flyers, brochures- As per the actuals
Food/ drink to the school kids visiting the exhibition
Entertainment program (Churchill show, Local dance groups)
Audience / visitors
Followers of various religious and cultural groups working towards the charity
Students of various universities and colleges of Nairobi
The family and friends of participants in various activities
Chefs of hotels and restaurants of the city
International delegates for the conference
Registered participants
Vaishali Shah, Kenya Vegetarian Club,
Email: kvc@shrivedant.com
Mobile: +254734366670.
Kenya to host the 46th IVU World Vegfest
Under the auspices of the international vegetarian union, the Kenya Vegetarian Club is honoured to host the 46th IVU Kenya World Vegfest 2018 to be held from November 23rd – 25th in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Kenya Vegetarian Club is a member of the International Vegetarian Union (IVU), a growing global network of independent organizations with the aim of promoting vegetarianism worldwide, founded in 1908 in Dresden, Germany.
The IVU World Vegfest is an annual global event designed as a platform for all vegetarian associations, societies, agencies, academicians, researchers and individuals from all parts of the globe to converge, to share and promote the concept of vegetarianism as a standard for healthy living and sustainability.
About 3000 participants covering international and local guests, government officials and individuals are expected to attend the 46th IVU Kenya World Vegfest 2018 from all corners of the world.
The event will involve a variety of activities such as lectures by renowned personalities, tree planting, cooking demonstration by local chefs, Karura Forest Walk, Yoga sessions, exhibition and stalls of vegetarian and vegan food, exhibition of local products, organic products, meat substitutes, health and wellness products, etc.
The Kenya Vegetarian Club, established and registered by the Shrivedant Foundation in 2012, promotes the cause of vegetarianism and hopes to increase the number of vegetarians in Kenya. The club endeavours to promote human health, protect animal rights and preserve the environment.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/kenyaveg/ for further information regarding the event or contact Vaishali Shah, email kvc@shrivedant.com , tel +254734366670.
Vegetarian diet twice as effective for weight-loss, new research shows
June 19, 2017 kenyavegclub
Low-calorie diets are notoriously difficult to maintain in the long-term. But they may be unnecessary. Switching to a vegetarian diet can be twice as effective for weight-loss as counting calories, according to new research. For the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, researchers from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine followed 74 participants with type 2 diabetes for six months. Half the group were assigned a vegetarian diet (60 per cent of energy from carbohydrates, 15 per cent protein, and 25 per cent fat) consisting of vegetables, grains, legumes, fruits, and nuts, with one portion of low-fat yoghurt a day. The other half were assigned a conventional low-calorie, anti-diabetes diet comprising of 50 per cent of energy from carbohydrates, 20 per cent protein, less than 30 per cent fat.
After six months, the vegetarian group had lost an average of 6.2 kilograms compared with 3.2 kilograms in the conventional group. The researchers also used magnetic resonance imaging to analyse the effect of the two diets on adipose fat in participants' thighs. While both diets reduced subcutaneous fat (fat under the skin), only the vegetarian diet caused reductions in subfascial fat (on the surface of muscles) and saw a greater reduction in intramuscular fat (fat inside the muscles). Excess subfascial and intramuscular fat is associated with insulin resistance and lowered glucose metabolism.
"Vegetarian diets proved to be the most effective diets for weight loss," said lead author, Dr Hana Kahleova. "However, we also showed that a vegetarian diet is much more effective at reducing muscle fat, thus improving metabolism. This finding is important for people who are trying to lose weight, including those suffering from metabolic syndrome and/or type 2 diabetes. But it is also relevant to anyone who takes their weight management seriously and wants to stay lean and healthy."
Dr Joanna McMillan believes the vegetarian diet was more effective because it tends to include more fibre from plant foods. "This helps to fill you up but also means the gut bugs have to help with nutrient retrieval," Dr McMillan explained. "Potentially our gut bugs help us to stay lean or get fat depending on our individual microbiomes and usual diet." Our genes may come into play as well, as another new study, published in the journal Nature: Ecology and Evolution, found that the introduction of farming 10,000 years ago led to an increase in plant-based diets.
This dietary shift from the animal-based diet of hunter-gatherers resulted in genetic adaptations that helped vegetarians and their offspring to better metabolise plant-foods. The plant-based gene variants regulate cholesterol levels and may provide protection against many inflammatory diseases, the researchers from Cornell University said. "Although modern paleo advocates emphasise meat, in fact most hunter gatherer communities ate loads of plant food as well – so the balance of foods is clearly key," McMillan said. "Although our genes can't change quickly, epigenetics allows us to adapt more quickly and the microbiome can adapt within a day. This is probably how humans have thrived on many different diets all over the world."
Moving meat-free
For many meat-eaters, the concept of becoming completely vegetarian is inconceivable, however there are health and environmental benefits to having more meat-free days. A new free app, designed by Charles Darwin's great-grandson, Chris Darwin, challenges people to have one or more meat-free days each week, rewarding users, by "showing you how your meat-free days are improving your health and your world". According to the app:
One meat-free day per year saves a tennis court of forest.
One meat-free day saves 98 toilet flushes of water (usually seven litres per toilet flush) – based around water support for meat production – from cattle growing, feeding, cleaning and processing.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au
World Environment Day 2017: What you can do today to help clean up the planet
June 5, 2017 kenyavegclub
Today is World Environment Day – a day when we turn our focus to cleaning up the planet.
The date (it's always June 5 every year) isn't just a day to read about the problems affecting the countryside, it is all about action and physically getting off your chair to do something to help preserve nature.
That could means organising a litter picking outing, hiking in your local park, planting trees or snapping some beautiful shots of the great outdoors and sharing them online.
Here is everything you need to know.
This year is all about connecting people to nature.
That means encouraging people to get outdoors and appreciate the beauty of the planet in a bid to show people the importance of protecting it for future generations.
The theme was chosen by this year's host country – Canada – which will be the centre of World Environment Day activities.
Around the world people will be planting trees, cleaning up their neighbourhoods and taking action against wildlife crimes.
The day itself is all about raising awareness about nature and the importance of protecting it so anything that has people embracing the outdoors is a small step towards helping.
The World Environment Day website explains: 'In recent decades, scientific advances as well as growing environmental problems such as global warming are helping us to understand the countless ways in which natural systems support our own prosperity and well-being.
'For example, the world's oceans, forests and soils act as vast stores for greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane; farmers and fisher-folk harness nature on land and under water to provide us with food; scientists develop medicines using genetic material drawn from the millions of species that make up Earth's astounding biological diversity.
'Billions of rural people around the world spend every working day 'connected to nature' and appreciate full well their dependence on natural water supplies and how nature provides their livelihoods in the form of fertile soil. They are among the first to suffer when ecosystems are threatened, whether by pollution, climate change or over-exploitation.
'Nature's gifts are often hard to value in monetary terms. Like clean air, they are often taken for granted, at least until they become scarce. However, economists are developing ways to measure the multi-trillion-dollar worth of many so-called 'ecosystem services', from insects pollinating fruit trees in the orchards of California to the leisure, health and spiritual benefits of a hike up a Himalayan valley.'
What events are taking place and how can I get involved?
1) The World Environment Day website advises people to get down to their local parks and not just look at the views but get involved in them. That means not just looking at a lake but whipping off your clothes and jumping in (where safe to do so and with others). Share photographs on social media with the hashtag #worldenvironmentday too.
'Connecting to nature can involve all the physical senses: why not take off your shoes and get your feet (and hands) dirty; don't just look at the beautiful lake, jump in! Take a hike at night and rely on your ears and nose to experience nature,' The website adds.
2) Plant a tree or check out insects
'You can also connect with nature in the city, where major parks can be a green lung and a hub of biodiversity. Why not do your bit to green the urban environment, by greening your street or a derelict site, or planting a window box? You could put a spade in the soil or lift a paving slab and see what creatures live beneath,' the website says.
2) Organisers are also encouraging people to organise litter pick ups, not only in their neighbourhoods but down at local beaches and in forests and woods.
3) Contribute to a science project with the app iNaturalist.
source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/05/world-environment-day-2017-what-you-can-do-today-to-help-clean-up-the-planet
Earth is on brink of a sixth mass extinction, scientists say, and it's humans' fault
A vast chunk of space rock crashes into the Yucatan Peninsula, darkening the sky with debris and condemning three-quarters of Earth's species to extinction. A convergence of continents disrupts the circulation of the oceans, rendering them stagnant and toxic to everything that lives there. Vast volcanic plateaus erupt, filling the air with poisonous gas. Glaciers subsume the land and lock up the oceans in acres of ice.
Five times in the past, the Earth has been struck by these kinds of cataclysmic events, ones so severe and swift (in geological terms) they obliterated most kinds of living things before they ever had a chance to adapt.
Now, scientists say, the Earth is on the brink of a sixth such "mass extinction event." Only this time, the culprit isn't a massive asteroid impact or volcanic explosions or the inexorable drifting of continents. It's us.
"We are now moving into another one of these events that could easily, easily ruin the lives of everybody on the planet," Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich said in a video created by the school.
In a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances, biologists found that the Earth is losing mammal species 20 to 100 times the rate of the past. Extinctions are happening so fast, they could rival the event that killed the dinosaurs in as little as 250 years. Given the timing, the unprecedented speed of the losses and decades of research on the effects of pollution, hunting and habitat loss, they assert that human activity is responsible.
"The smoking gun in these extinctions is very obvious, and it's in our hands," co-author Todd Palmer, a biologist at the University of Florida, wrote in an e-mail to The Washington Post.
Since 1900 alone, 69 mammal species are believed to have gone extinct, along with about 400 other types of vertebrates. Evidence for species lost among nonvertebrate animals and other kinds of living things is much more difficult to come by, the researchers say, but there's little reason to believe that the rest of life on Earth is faring any better. This rapid species loss is alarming enough, according to the study's authors, but it could be just the beginning. "We can confidently conclude that modern extinction rates are exceptionally high, that they are increasing, and that they suggest a mass extinction under way," they write. "If the currently elevated extinction pace is allowed to continue, humans will soon (in as little as three human lifetimes) be deprived of many biodiversity benefits."
The Science Advances study is not the first to propose that the die-offs caused by human activity are now on par with the fatal cataclysms of millennia past. In 1998, an American Museum of Natural History poll of 400 biology experts found that 70 percent believe the Earth is in the midst of one of its fastest mass extinctions, one that threatens the existence of humans as well as the millions of species we rely on. In his 2003 book "The Future of Life," noted Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson calculated that Earth would lose half its higher life forms by 2100 if the current rate of human disruption continued. Scores of scientific studies have sought to bolster that claim, offering evidence of current die-offs and predicting future ones. And many more have contributed to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List, which keeps a bleak accounting of the extinction risk for tens of thousands of species.
It's true that throughout history, extinctions have happened for comparatively mundane reasons. Even without asteroid impacts or human disruption, species are always dying out — the "unfit" in Darwin's terminology — and being replaced. Scientists estimate that 99 percent of the species that ever existed no longer do. It's a routine part of life on Earth.
What's happening now, the researchers say, is not routine.
To prove how extraordinary the losses of the past 114 years have been, the authors of the new study used data from the IUCN Red List to calculate modern extinction rates and compared that number to the "background," or routine, rate of extinctions. To counter claims that their research might be exaggerated or alarmist, the authors of the Science Advances study assumed a fairly high background rate: 2 extinctions per 10,000 vertebrate species each century, or 2 species per million each year (a metric known as E/MSY), based on the fossil record. Most commonly used estimates are much lower — typically between 0.1 and 1 MSY.
Under normal conditions, this assumed background rate means that Earth should have seen 9 vertebrate extinctions since 1900, the study says. (The researchers focused on vertebrates and mammals in particular because those species have been the subject of the most thorough conservation status assessments.)
But species these days are not living under normal conditions, the biologists say. Forests are vanishing. Animals are hunted for their tusks and teeth and fur. Toxins are leaching into streams and lakes and the ground beneath us. The global climate is changing, and habitats around the world are changing with it.
And, as in past mass extinctions, even the "fit" have been unable to adapt.
Based on the IUCN list of species that have been declared extinct, extinct in the wild, and possibly extinct (species that haven't been seen in the wild for years but whose loss hasn't been confirmed), 468 more vertebrates have died out since 1900 than should have. That translates to an extinction rate 53 times the rate of baseline levels at the "high" background extinction rate and more than 100 times the rate most other biologists use. Even using a highly conservative calculation that includes only the 199 vertebrate species definitively declared extinct, the rate of vertebrate species loss is 22 times higher than the 2 MSY baseline.
Though these extinctions are happening much faster than usual, they're not yet comparable to the "Big Five" mass extinctions commonly recognized as the worst in Earth's history. The losses of the past century account for only about 1 percent of the roughly 40,000 known vertebrate species — a statistic that pales in comparison to the level of destruction seen during previous mass extinction events. Even in the least of them, between 60 and 70 percent of species were killed off. During the end-Permian event about 250 million years ago, known as "the Great Dying," that number was more than 90 percent.
But the loss of biodiversity we're seeing now could trigger even more catastrophic species loss within a few years.
"Ecological communities are composed of many interacting parts, and there are potential 'tipping points' in these communities where if you lose too many species, or lose species that are particularly important, the ecosystem may rapidly degrade or change states," Palmer wrote.
If die-offs continue at current rates, the current extinction event could reach "Big Five" magnitudes in 240 to 540 years, he said — an unprecedented speed for this kind of ecological change.
Past mass extinctions unfolded in geological time over the course of thousands of years. The calamitous "Great Dying" at the end of the Permian Period took about 6,000 centuries, as the super-continent called Pangaea coalesced, disrupting ocean currents and raising global temperatures, and lava oozed out of a vast volcanic region called the Siberian Traps, poisoning the air and seas with clouds of toxic gases. For a mass extinction to happen fast enough to be perceived in a human lifetime is unheard of.
"In terms of scale, we are now living through one of those brief, rare episodes in Earth history when the biological framework of life is dismantled," paleobiologist Jan Zalasiewizc, who was not involved in the study, wrote in an analysis for the Guardian. He went on to note that none of the "familiar horsemen" of planetary change — "massive volcanic outbursts to choke the atmosphere and poison the seas, the mayhem caused by major asteroid impact and the wrenching effects of rapid climate change" — have factored into the current crisis (the effects of current climate change are still in their early stages, he wrote, and can't yet be blamed for species loss). Instead, the deaths we see now are all due to pollution, predation and habitat change from one species: humans.
Still, scientists say, it's possible to avert their gloomy predictions. They give us about a generation to make the changes needed to slow the rate of species loss.
"We have the potential of initiating a mass extinction episode which has been unparalleled for 65 million years," co-author Gerardo Ceballos told CNN. "But I'm optimistic in the sense that humans react — in the past we have made quantum leaps when we worked together to solve our problems."
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/


News release originally published by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) to enroll foreign students. In the United States, many SEVP-certified schools require foreign citizens whose first language is not English to certify proficiency in English by achieving a particular score on the TOEFL.


text:
Bavdekar S B
Year : 2004 | Volume : 50 | Issue : 1 | Page : 3-4
Taking stock and looking ahead
SB Bavdekar
Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, Seth G. S. Medical College and K. E. M. Hospital, Parel, Mumbai - 400012, India
S B Bavdekar
9, A2 Worli Seaside CHS, KAG Khan Road, Worli, Mumbai - 400018
Bavdekar S B. Taking stock and looking ahead. J Postgrad Med 2004;50:3-4
Bavdekar S B. Taking stock and looking ahead. J Postgrad Med [serial online] 2004 [cited 2023 Jan 28];50:3-4. Available from: https://www.jpgmonline.com/text.asp?2004/50/1/3/6642
It has been over eighteen months since this team took over the editorial functions of the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine. It is time we took stock of the situation and assessed where we stand! The journal has been receiving contributions from scientists all over the world. During the calendar year 2003 the editors received 438 manuscripts from authors drawn from over 30 countries, 134 (32%) were accepted, 284 were rejected and 20 continue to be in the review process. On an average, the first response was conveyed to the author in 24 days. The mean turn around time (time from first submission to acceptance) was 62 days and the average time between acceptance and publication of a manuscript was 71 days. These parameters mirror the journal's policy and commitment not only to choose articles for publication only after a thorough and careful peer review, but also to do so with minimal time lag so that the ideas and results are widely disseminated to the scientific community at the earliest. It has been possible to achieve this scale of efficiency largely due to the commitment and sagacity of our reviewers. On behalf of the editorial team, I wish to express my gratitude to each one of the 1432 referees drawn from various countries spread across the globe.
The time, money and efforts invested in improving the journal over the years have paid rich dividends. Last year, the journal continued to attract the attention of bibliographic indexing agencies. In 2003, the journal has been listed with five more agencies and databases bringing the number of organisations that include JPGM in their databases to 30. The new additions this year include PsycINFO (by American Psychological Association), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and CINAHL Database, MANTIS, POPLINE, Thomson Gale's databases (Health and Wellness Research Center, Health Reference Center Academic, InfoTrac One File, Expanded Academic ASAP) and databases of EBSCO Publishing. It is also heartening to note that the articles published in journal are being cited more often. In the year 2000, only two out of 60 articles published in the previous two years were cited. For the year 2003, the number has increased to 41 citations for 155 published articles. It is hoped that the journal will continue to widen its impact in future!
Several new initiatives were undertaken last year. Publication of symposia and series on unusually discussed but important aspects such as open access and clinical photography were prominent amongst them. In addition, the idea of providing expert comments on published papers was well received by readers. One of the most gratifying initiatives was improvement in the journal's website and manuscript tracking system. The journal's website has undergone extensive 'renovation' with a view to make it more useful to the readers and also to ensure better user interface. The website is now structured as per Open URL (enabling easier linking), DC Metadata (fascilitating easier searching and indexing), W3C (allowing uniform browser experience) and other international standards. By the end of 2002, full text articles published in the journal from 1990 onwards were made available on the website. Now, a visitor can view and download articles published in the journal as early as 1980. The abstracts and full texts of the cited references have been directly linked and these can be accessed at the click of the mouse. The facilities for submission of and review of manuscripts and providing email notification regarding the release of new issues have been improved upon. The website is now equipped to provide statistical data such as number of users online, number of visitors since a pre-determined date and data regarding article downloads. No wonder that the website is being "hit" by over 2500 unique visitors every day. At the time of going to press, the articles of the immediate past issue were read over 12000 times!
The year also witnessed efforts taken towards improving the editorial process. Considering the fact that most of the manuscripts are submitted by authors whose native language is not English, the journal has appointed language editors to help them in improving the language used in manuscript. In addition, the journal now has a statistical editor who ensures that relevant and precise statistical data are incorporated in research papers published in the journal.
What about plans for the next year? With the publication of this issue, the Journal of Postgraduate Medicine has entered the 50th year of its existence. To commemorate this occasion, the journal wishes to make a contribution to the field of medical writing. Come September 2004, the journal would host a conference, the 'JPGM GoldCon', on the art and science of medical writing and publishing. This international conference, which would be organised in Mumbai would provide an opportunity to medical scientists, authors and editors to interact with experts in their field. The list of topics that would be discussed, the names of faculty and other details of the conference are printed elsewhere in this issue.
This year, the editorial board has also decided to work for the fulfilment of its long cherished ambition of having the journal archieved with PubMed Central. If achieved, this would be a tribute to the efforts of contributors and reviewers in maintaining the quality of the journal. In the year 2004, the reader will have a "new-look" journal with an innovative cover and unique page designs in his hands. To increase editorial accountability, we would also be printing the date of submission and date of acceptance of each published article. from now on, we would be printing the journal on an acid-free paper making your journal copy more resistant to wear and tear. But the journal itself is not resistant to change, as it believes that change is the only constant phenomenon in this ever-changing world. More specifically, the editorial board is toying with the idea of printing the reviewer's name with the published manuscript. It is the considered opinion of some that this would be one way of acknowledging the contribution of and expressing the gratitude to the reviewers, who expend their most valuable resource, viz. time at gratis just to ensure that the quality of scientific communication is enhanced.
The journal continues to be committed to the policy of open access, as the Staff society of Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital and the editorial board firmly believe that scientific data should be available to one and all. The ultimate aim of scientific research, more so of medical research, is betterment of mankind and hence accessibility to such material should not be limited or restricted by race, caste, creed, geographic location or economic considerations. Hence the journal continues to offer free access to its treasures via Internet, directly through its website and also through other sources such as Bioline International, Canada and interoperable e-print archive servers.
I hope that the journal has met your expectations, be it as a contributor, subscriber or reader and that this report has provided you a sense of where we are and where we wish to proceed. The board would be happy to receive your suggestions, questions and comments that would help the journal in charting its course through the forthcoming golden years!
1 Journal of Postgraduate Medicine: The path ahead
Bavdekar, S., Gogtay, N., Muzumdar, D., Vaideeswar, P., Salvi, V., Sarkar, M.
Journal of Postgraduate Medicine. 2007; 53(3): 153
2 Yet another year and a new report from the editors
Bavdekar SB, Sahu DR
J Postgrad Med. 2006; 52(1): 3-4
[VIEW]
3 Path of progress: Report of an eventful year for the journal of postgraduate medicine
Bavdekar, S.B., Sahu, D.R.
Journal of Postgraduate Medicine. 2005; 51(1): 5-8
4 Fifty years of Journal of Postgraduate Medicine: A journey in time
Gogtay NJ, Rajgopal L, Bavdekar SB, et al

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Wired Magazine just published this worthwhile read, The Story of Steve Jobs: An Inspiration or a Cautionary Tale?. It asks whether Jobs' thorny, authoritarian approach to leadership should be emulated. It's a good article, but it misses a big point: Jobs success may not be due to his rude-boy style. It may be more attributable to his entrepreneurial vision and the historical moment in which he lived and created.
Because the world is changing fast, leading change is perhaps the critical leadership capability. Here are some useful distinctions and a simple, powerful exercise for your team.
John Kotter, at Harvard Business School, branded "change leadership" with his 1996 book, Leading Change (republished 2012). He's a lucid writer; it's worthwhile reading. He argues the facts: we are simply not that good at leading change.
Approximately 70% of change initiatives underperform or fail (see Beyond Change Management, 2010). The numbers are similar for mergers and acquisitions.
Big numbers. So expensive. Why?
Because change leadership is a mission-critical capability, and most organizations don't have it. Most leaders simply are not on an explicitly conscious path to higher performance that cultivates their ability to lead change.


text:
rcwrt.org
Edward J. Wooldridge, Pres.            Gary Cowardin, Editor
13700 Lintel Lane                      1404 Lorraine Ave.
Midlothian, VA 23113                   Richmond, VA 23227-3735
edwool@verizon.net                     cowardin@juno.com
June 2009 Program
Fred L. Ray
Shock Troops of the Confederacy
8:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 9, 2009, at the
Boulevard United Methodist Church, 321 N. Boulevard,
Richmond, VA (corner of Boulevard and Stuart Ave.) Enter
the basement door on the right side under the front steps.
Born in Louisiana, Fred Ray grew up in Pensacola, Florida  and  attended
Florida  State  University  where  he  received  a  BA  in International
Affairs.  Commissioned into the Army in 1968  he  served  six  years  on
active  duty  including two tours in Vietnam and one in Germany.  During
the 1980s, he  worked  as  a  river  guide  and  whitewater  instructor,
specializing  in river rescue and safety operations.  In 1998 he started
CFS Press, specializing in books on flood and swift  water  rescue,  and
has just published the fourth edition of his first book, River Rescue.
Mr.  Ray has had a lifelong interest in military history, but only began
writing about it while working on  a  family  history  project  when  he
discovered  that  an  ancestor  was  a  Confederate  sharpshooter.  This
revelation led to  his  first  Civil  War  book,  Shock  Troops  of  the
Confederacy  which  tells  the  story  of the development of the Army of
Northern Virginia's sharpshooter battalions.   This  book  will  be  the
subject of our June meeting.
In  Shock  Troops of the Confederacy, Fred Ray describes the development
of the Army of Northern Virginia's sharpshooter battalions, the  weapons
they  used,  how  they  trained with them, and their tactical use on the
battlefield.  The book also tells the human story of  the  sharpshooters
themselves,  describing in their own words what it was like to be in the
thick of battle, on the skirmish line, and at their lonely picket posts.
Located in Asheville, NC, Fred Ray maintains a website -  "Shock  Troops
of  the Confederacy" ( www.cssharpshooters.com ) which breaks new ground
in military history and in the Civil War while  reinterpreting  many  of
its  major  battles.   Fred  Ray's  work  has  been characterized by one
reviewer as "the most significant small unit tactical  analysis  of  the
Army of Northern Virginia ever written."
If  you have an E-mail address and internet access and are not currently
E-mail receiving your newsletter notification please let me know ASAP.
My E-mail address is:  cowardin@juno.com
(Just click my E-mail address above)
Historic Polegreen Church Foundation
Saturday, June 27, 2009, 10:00 a.m.-4:00p.m.
Civil War Living History Encampment and Program
A local living history  unit  which  has  partnered  with  the  Historic
Polegreen  Church  Foundation in an effort to maintain the appearance of
Polegreen's newly enhanced site will offer  several  free  programs  for
tourists, Civil War enthusiasts and families.
Polegreen's  volunteers  strive  to tell the accurate story of the Civil
War soldier in the Virginia Theater between 1861 & 1865.  One  artillery
unit that they often portray is the Richmond Howitzers, who in 1864 were
forced to  fire  on  Polegreen  Church  after  union  soldiers  took  up
sharpshooter positions in the church.  Today, the modern gun crew of the
Richmond Howitzers is giving back what the original gun crew was  forced
to take away.
Location:  	Historic Polegreen Church Site
6411 Heatherwood Drive
Mechanicsville, Virginia 23116
For complete schedule see:
http://www.historicpolegreen.org/news/#z9
Visit the The Museum of the Confederacy Online Events Calendar
for MOC Events Calendar:
http://www.moc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=visit_cal
Pamplin Historical Park
The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier
Special Events Calendar:
http://www.pamplinpark.org/events.html
RCWRT Monthly Speakers for 2009
Richmond Civil War Round Table Newsletter
Gary Cowardin, Editor
1404 Lorraine Ave.
Richmond, VA 23227-3735
cowardin@juno.com
Return to News Letters Index
©R.C.W.R.T. 2009


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Trailer: Lucifer Season 5 features a familiar face
Staff Reporter | On 14, Jul 2020
Lucifer returns this August for Season 5, and a new trailer gives us a first look at the show's surprising way to bring back its protagonist.
The series, which is based on comic book characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg, follows the original fallen angel (Ellis) after he's given up his throne in the underworld for the underbelly of Los Angeles, where he helps the cops to punish criminals. He is joined by Lesley-Ann Brandt as devoted, demonic ally Maze, Lauren German as LAPD detective Chloe, Rachael Harris as Lucifer's therapist, and DB Woodside as Lucifer's brother.
But Season 4, resurrected as a Netflix original, saw Lucifer depart for home – and Season 5 has got a witty way to bring back its main character for a fifth run, which makes it less surprising that a sixth and final season has been commissioned. Part 1 of Season 5 (which has 16 episodes overall) will premiere on 21st August on Netflix.
Lucifer Season 5 Part 1 is available on Netflix UK, as part of an £8.99 monthly subscription.
Lucifer Season 5 set for August release
Lucifer Season 5 will be released on Netflix this August, the streamer has officially confirmed.
Season 5 was swiftly announced after Netflix resurrected the once-cancelled series for a fourth run. With 16 episodes on the cards, split into two halves, that means even more Tom Ellis to get fans excited – including a musical number, with singer Debbie Gibson guest-starring in an episode.
Netflix is no fool when it comes to the show's appeal, announcing Season 5's release not in the conventional way but as an appendix to a video showcasing Lucifer's "sexiest moments". As for whether Season 5 is the show's final run, that's anybody's guess, with Season 6 rumoured to be in consideration. For now, though, fans can look forward to 21st August, when Season 5 will premiere worldwide on Netflix.
First look: Lucifer Season 5
The first image from Lucifer Season 5 has dropped, and it's a tantalising glimpse of the show's final run.
Resurrected after Fox canceled it following its third season, Lucifer rose again on Netflix this year, and was swiftly renewed for a fifth and final season. Extended to 16 episodes, that season will be divided into two sections, with the second released after a break. That extended runtime means more Tom Ellis, but, judging by this picture, also means more time for the supporting characters, particular the women.
They made a splash in Season 2, when Chloe, Charlotte and Maze went on a ladies' night out. Now, the women are getting back together for a similar shindig in Episode 6, BlueBallz. The other episode titles confirmed are Really Sad Devil Guy, Lucifer! Lucifer! Lucifer!, ¡Diablo!, It Never Ends Well for the Chicken, Detective Amenadiel and BluBallz, Our Mojo and Spoiler Alert (the midseason finale).
Lucifer Season 5 will be split in two parts
Lucifer Season 5 will be split into two halves, Tom Ellis has revealed.
The show, which hails from Warner Bros. TV, is based on comic book characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg. It follows the original fallen angel (Ellis) after he's given up his throne in the underworld for the underbelly of Los Angeles, where he helps the cops to punish criminals. He is joined by Lesley-Ann Brandt as devoted, demonic ally Maze, Lauren German as LAPD detective Chloe, Rachael Harris as Lucifer's therapist, and DB Woodside as Lucifer's brother, trying to persuade him to return to Hell.
Resurrected after Fox canceled it following its third season, Lucifer rose again on Netflix this year, with Season 4 introducing a new challenge: Eve, the original sinner herself. Netflix wasted no time in renewing the show for a fifth season, but also confirmed that the fifth run would be its last, giving the show the chance to wrap up on its own terms.
That news, though, was balanced out by the announcement that Season 5 has also been extended to 16 episodes. Now, Ellis has revealed that those 16 chapters will be divided into two eight-part sections, with the second released after a break.
Ellis dropped the news on the Kelly Clarkson Show during a tour of the Lucifer set.
Although the show started elsewhere, Netflix's continuation of the show after its acquisition means that at 77 episodes and five seasons, it's technically one of the longest-running Netflix originals to date.
Netflix extends Lucifer Season 5 to 16 episodes
Netflix has extended Lucifer Season 5 to a bumper 16 episodes.
The show, which hails from Warner Bros. TV, is based on comic book characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg. It follows the original fallen angel after he's given up his throne in the underworld for the underbelly of Los Angeles, where he helps the cops to punish criminals. He is joined by Lesley-Ann Brandt as devoted, demonic ally Maze, Lauren German as LAPD detective Chloe, Rachael Harris as Lucifer's therapist, and DB Woodside as Lucifer's brother, trying to persuade him to return to Hell.
Resurrected after Fox canceled it following its third season, Lucifer rose again on Netflix last month. Season 4 saw Lucifer face a new challenge: Eve, the original sinner herself, who joins Lucifer in Los Angeles for unknown reasons and sparks an identity crisis.
"This hugely fun fourth outing for the devil-turned-crime-solver is Lucifer at the best it can be," we wrote in our review.
After appearing repeatedly in Netflix UK's list of most popular shows, the streaming giant swiftly confirmed that a fifth and final season had been ordered.
"We are so incredibly thankful to Netflix for resurrecting our show last season and now letting us finish the story of Lucifer on our terms," said exec producers Joe Henderson and Ildy Modrovich at the time.
Now, they're getting even more of a chance to do so, with Netflix extending the number of episodes to 16 for Lucifer's final chapter – up from 10, which is how many made up Season 4.
"The reduced episode count (there are 10 chapters here) makes for a much tighter narrative overall, still finding time for case-of-the-week hijinks (avocado honey, nudist camps, reality TV satire and more) but without losing momentum," we wrote in our review of Season 4. Can Season 5 maintain that standard with a higher number of episodes? Lucifans will have to wait to find out.
Netflix renews Lucifer for fifth and final season
Lucifer will return for Season 5, Netflix has officially announced.
Fans evidently agreed, because the series has repeatedly been in Netflix UK's list of most popular shows. Now, within a month of Season 4's debut, Netflix has ordered a fifth run, which will also be the show's final season.
"Thanks to the lucifans, Lucifer's story will come to an end the way it should: the fifth and final season is coming to Netflix," the streaming giant tweeted this morning.
"We are so incredibly thankful to Netflix for resurrecting our show last season and now letting us finish the story of Lucifer on our terms. …The best is yet to come!!" said exec producers Joe Henderson and Ildy Modrovich.
Lucifer Netflix
Amazon renews Hanna for Season 3
Mr Harrigan's Phone: Netflix and John Lee Hancock bring Stephen King story to screen
Netflix won't be at Cannes for 2019 March 18, 2019 | Staff Reporter
Jessica Alba to star in Netflix thriller Trigger Warning... May 16, 2020 | Staff Reporter
Watch: Trailer for Grace and Frankie Season 6... January 2, 2020 | Staff Reporter
Netflix nabs global rights to South Korean blockbuster Pandora... November 8, 2016 | Staff Reporter


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Why 99.99999% of girls are put off sport at school
Stylist Team
A few weeks ago I got a panicky call from a woman booking slots for a radio programme asking if I would come on and talk about a survey that had just been published showing that – I forget the exact figure – something like 99.999999% of school-age girls in the UK had been put off exercise by bad experiences of PE lessons and school sports. It seemed like a woeful underestimate to me. "Who are the remaining 0.000001%?" I asked, bewildered.
The woman replied "That's what everyone's been saying!" (I am never the first point of call for any booker.) "But I have to find someone who says it's ridiculous to be put off by it. I don't understand. I'm Australian. We just don't have this problem. Every kid loves school athletics over there."
What a cultural chasm suddenly opened up beneath our feet. Her with her happy memories of a healthy, outdoorsy life lived under blue skies tented over spaces so wide and open that they almost begged you to run, leap and give fullest reign to exuberant young and competitive spirits. And me with my standard UK-issue memories of freezing cold hockey pitches, blue knees, sodden sodding games of rounders in the rain and screaming teachers on the sidelines who had scorned a career in the SAS because it was full of wimps.
And that was before the powers that be started selling off the playing fields to raise revenue. Then we had to have our games lessons in the park, which meant adding 'Flee the flasher' and 'Dodge the frantic masturbator in the bushes' to our usual afternoon activities. Though to be fair, we did all learn to run a little faster after that.
In the survey, girls cited having to use dirty changing rooms, having to do sports in front of boys, wanting to do less competitive activities (dance, for example), feeling forced into doing the same thing every year, feeling like their bodies were 'on show', thinking sport was unfeminine and getting sweaty and ruining their hair and nails as the reasons why they hated PE.
The Olympics offer an alternative and glorious version of female athleticism
I suspect that like me, your teenage self felt – with varying degrees of justification – most of them at one time or another (I would have felt all of them, but I never had hair or nails decent enough to ruin). Certainly – unless you're a devout believer in biological determinism and insist that all boys are just born faster, stronger and handier with a bat than we are – we need to look for something to explain statistics which show that by the age of 14, just 12% of girls are doing as much physical exercise as they should, compared to 25% of boys, and that by school-leaving age they are half as likely as boys still to be playing any form of sport. The difference persists into adulthood. One in five men regularly play sport, compared with just one in eight women.
When I was at school there was certainly a bias (both from other girls and in the wider world) against girls competing and striving to do well. Boys were encouraged to race around the playground or football pitch, make noise, take up space and dream of being a captain of this, that and the other team in a way that we just weren't. Sports are warfare in a minor key and girls were rarely encouraged in their bellicosity. (I sometimes wonder whether, if they were allowed to express it more freely, we would see less vicious, teenage-and-onwards, girl-on-girl bitchery, but that's a thought for another time.) The surveys and the stats suggest that not much – or not enough – has changed since then. In fact, I suspect that with the rise in body-image issues some elements of it have become even worse.
The Olympics has the potential to offer an alternative and glorious vision of female athleticism. Nearly half (really nearly – 48%!) of the GB team is female and they cover every type of event from equestrian to weightlifting. And while I in no way mean to reduce them to this, the women also offer the vanishingly rare sight of beautiful, healthy bodies rendered lean and gorgeous not by dieting or airbrushing but as the by-product of hours, months and years of dedication and hard work in pursuit of a greater goal – to be the best of the best. The Games offer the prospect of men and women alike competing for gold medals on equal terms, and as recipients, if and when they succeed, not of shame or embarrassment but respect, praise and national admiration. Go, go Team GB!"
Demand a better deal for women in all sports. Sign Stylist's Fair Game petition at stylist.co.uk/fairgame
Picture credit: Rex Features
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Texas Supreme Court (finally) Decides EAA v. Day – a Victory for Landowners?
The Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion today in Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day, more than a year after it was argued and some thirteen years after the controversy began. It has been eagerly awaited as the court's ruling on whether a landowner has a "vested" right in groundwater under his/her land. The Court held that groundwater, like oil and gas, is "an exclusive and private property right … inhering in virtue of [the landowner's] proprietorship of the land, and of which he may not be deprived without a taking of private property." The case is being heralded by property rights advocates as a victory for private property rights. The court's decision, in an opinion by Justice Nathan Hecht, was unanimous.
The opinion is certainly not surprising. It would have been a surprise to most people to learn that they do not have ownership rights in groundwater under their property. But I question whether it is such a victory for property owners and whether it will materially change the current regulatory scheme for groundwater in Texas.
Justice Hecht's opinion, 49 pages, includes a good summary of the history of groundwater regulation and litigation in Texas over the last 100 years. Remarkably, in all that time the Court had never ruled on the question of whether landowners have a property right in groundwater. The court held that the same rules should apply to groundwater as apply to oil and gas – in both, the landowner has an ownership right in the substance under his/her land, subject to being divested of that ownership by drainage from wells on adjacent lands, and subject to reasonable regulation by the state.
In EAA v. Day, two farmers owned 350 acres south of San Antonio. They applied to the Edwards Aquifer Authority for a permit for their existing water well on the property. Under the rules of the EAA, their right to use water from the well depended on what use they made of the water during the historic period from June 1, 1972 to Mary 31, 1993. The farmers applied for a permit to pump up to 700 acre-feet per year, for irrigation. The EAA granted a permit for only 14 acres, finding that their proof of historic use was not adequate. The farmers then sued, alleging that denial of their permit for 700 acre-feet constituted a taking of their property without compensation. After holding that the farmers did have a "property right" in their groundwater of which they could not be deprived without compensation, the Court remanded the case to the trial court for additional evidence on whether the EAA's regulations did in fact constitute a taking of property for which compensation is due.
This is where the case gets interesting. The court discusses how the trial court, when it gets the case back, should decide whether the farmers are entitled to compensation. Relying on a US Supreme Court case, Penn Central Transp. Co. v. New York City, the court adopted a test of "reasonableness": the trial court must consider "the economic impact of the regulation on the claimant and, particularly, the extent to which the regulation has interfered with distinct investment-backed expectations"; and the "'character of the government action' — … whether it amounts to a physical invasion or instead merely affects property interests through 'some public program adjusting the benefits and burdens of economic life to promote the common good.'" Considering these factors, the court must decide whether the economic impact of the regulation on the farmers, considering the promotion of the common good resulting from the regulation of groundwater imposed by the EAA, rises to the level of a "taking" of private property for public use. This in my opinion does not give the trial court much to go on. It is a pretty subjective test and will depend on particular facts. The Supreme Court remanded the case to the trial court to further develop those facts.
So what does this mean for Texas landowners and groundwater districts? Perhaps more litigation. Landowners unhappy with decisions made by their local water district may sue claiming that the district has "taken" their water rights. But, as can be seen by the Day case, such a battle is not to be taken on lightly — in fact, Mr. Day died before the decision was issued — and will be expensive. And there is the possibility that an unsuccessful claimant would have to reimburse the water district's legal fees. Most water districts have very limited budgets and so will be reluctant to fight landowners' inverse condemnation suits. As a result, they may be more cautious in how they draft and enforce their regulations.
All in all, the case is an important, but not surprising, milestone in the continuing development of groundwater rights law in Texas.


This is our most relaxing class all on your back! We start with 30 minutes of warm-up poses before doing 30 minutes of deep tissue stretching. We end the class with 30 minutes of restorative breathing & meditation poses. By the end of the class, you should plan to go straight home to bed for a deeply restorative night of deep sleep. Eat a light dinner by 6:30pm please.
For 10 weeks, we will do Therapeutic Yoga for healing the feet and legs, hips, lower back/core strength, upper back, arms, neck and shoulders, as well as the mind and emotions. Each topic will be addressed for 2 weeks at a time, with each topic building on the last for a whole person/whole body, integrated approach.
The Yoga asana-s (Yoga postures) are breath coordinated with movement and alignment-based, with breathing, chanting, visualization, and restorative practices integrated into all classes.
You will be asked to provide a Self-Assessment Form and a registration Registration Form before the series begins each term to clarify individual therapeutic needs. Maggie will track changes and progress throughout the term.
You are also encouraged to work with Maggie privately on Tuesday, Friday or Saturday afternoons to develop a home practice to deepen your experience.


If you want for powerful domain name management solutions and then one of a kind domain names registration prices you've arrived at the right place. Look into jamPACKED HOSTiNG's video presentation to ascertain precisely what jamPACKED HOSTiNG may offer for your domain names.
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For the purposes of domain administration, we've designed a one of a kind domain control tool – jamPACKED HOSTiNG's Domain Name Manager. It's an fundamental element of the Web Hosting Control Panel and it really helps to conveniently deal with different domain names simultaneously. Additionally, it is full good tools, for instance a domain name redirection tool, a GeoIP redirection service and many more. And since the Domain Manager is part of the Control Panel, if you have your web site hosted with us, you can handle both your domain names as well as your web sites with the same place, without having to use any additional panels.
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We would just really like to thank you for our wonderful weekend with you guys this past weekend! We were so impressed with literally everything - from the friendly and helpful staff, to the neat and beautiful surroundings, and of course the excellent food.
We have never experienced anything like we did this past weekend. Friends of ours recommended Hartford House - and believe me, we were not disappointed at all!
One of your staff members, I think his name is Paul - such a nice and friendly guy. Really good service and keen to have chats with us, answered so many questions. He's quite good with the wines and the menu even tough he's not been with you for long. Nice to have someone helping and serving you who actually looks like he wants to help / serve you.
And then of course your impressive wine list and your chef and the food that he presents... it was out of this world! The small details, the textures and tastes... Wow. We made sure with every meal that we were there to experience that fine dining. The food was really exceptional! We really have not had any meals like that before! We were completely blown away. So nice that the chef goes to the guests after every meal and talks about the menu's, recipes and answering questions. We had so many, and he answered all of them with no effort whatsoever. Such a nice guy!
Thank you once again for such a great weekend! We will definitely be back.


This thesis examines three cases of fatal police-involved killings of black men in order to understand the significance and value of citizen journalism. Citizen journalism, journalism that is produced by ordinary people rather than professional journalists, functions as an alternative to mainstream news media. With technological developments like smartphones and social media, people have the means to produce and disseminate their own news in real-time. There has been a recent trend of witnesses filming videos of acts of police violence against people of color. I argue that these videos are significant because of the way they challenge our perceptions of police officers and black men, force mainstream news media to report on news that are of public interest, amplify historically marginalized voices, and expose the issue of police brutality to a wider audience.
Abraham, Tyra, "Watching the Watchmen: The Impact of Citizen Journalism on Unlawful Police-Civilian Interactions" (2018). Scripps Senior Theses. 1175.


You don't need to be an art deco fan to be a fan of this necklace!
Pair it with these earrings and/or this brooch for maximum impact.
A large fan pendant, hand made in smooth leather and embossed in gold foil with a with a delicate design of birds and flowers. What a statement piece!
Hung from a double gold plated chain for added texture, this stunner is also adorned with a shimmying chain tassel for extra movement and playfulness.
For more Art Deco jewellery, click here.


After the defeat at Manzikert the Byzantine Emperor asked Pope Urban II for help and he set the crusades in motion with his cry of "Dues vult!" translated as God wills it, or it is Gods will.
On November 27 in the year 1095 Christians from all over Europe heard the Pope's cry and were united in their mission to return the Holy lands to Christian rule.
The crusades were ordered by the Pope Urban II and took place in the high and late medieval period, the goal was to return the Holy Lands to Christian rule using military force by driving out the Muslims who currently controlled it.
The Holy Lands are the names given to describe the religious lands claimed by Christians, Jews and Muslims. The Holy Lands position is between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, The Holy Land is divided between Palestinian and Jewish lands and incorporates parts of the river Jordan.
Today the Holy Lands are part of Land of Israel and Palestine and currently the area is considered part of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.
There were three main Crusades in all, the first Crusade started in 1095, the intention of this crusade was to drive out the Muslims from the Holy Land. Pope Urban II instructed medieval knights across Europe such as the Knights Templar to recapture the Holy Lands for the Christians.
Nobles from France, Germany and Italy brought together their armies of knights and set off on a journey that would take three years. The Pope had called on Christians from all over Europe to fight to take the Holy Lands back from the Muslims, the church was highly respected in medieval times and people were eager to answer the Popes call.
Many ordinary people even women and children joined medieval knights in this quest.
The journey to the Holy Lands was long and hard and was very treacherous, as the crusaders had to travel through many different lands, the knights Templar offered protection to many people making the journey but people who joined the Crusades still died before even reaching the Holy Lands.
People would also die of starvation, disease and were victim to the harsh weather conditions on the long journey to the Holy lands which could take years.
In the first crusade, up to 30,000 crusaders led by four noblemen made the three-year journey to the Holy Lands, they initially battled through Anatolia heading southwards towards Palestinian lands. By June 1098, the Christian crusaders attacked the Syrian city of Antioch.
Antioch eventually fell to the Christians when a traitor opened the gates to the city and let them in, the Following year the Christian crusaders surrounded the Holy city of Jerusalem, scaling the cities walls and finally in the summer of 1099 the city surrendered to the invading christian army.
This victory by the crusaders was however to be short lived as many of them had returned home leaving Outremer vulnerable to Muslim attacks. The Seljuk Empire was already breaking up, the Muslims armies had decided to join forces to fight the common enemy the Christian crusaders and in 1144 the Muslim armies managed to capture Edessa, which was at the time the capital of the most northern part of the crusaders kingdom.
The Christians responded to the Muslims capture of Edessa by mounting a second crusade. The second crusade was a disaster, both armies sent were badly beaten and the second army sent that was led by the king of France did not even make it to Edessa and they were defeated at the city of Damascus, the Muslim army sending them back retreating to France.
Saladin was the legendary Muslim leader who was a very courageous and clever warrior; he led the Muslim troops to victory repeatedly, finally capturing the prized city of Jerusalem.
The new pope Gregory VIII instigated the third crusade also known as the king's crusade. Pope Gregory had made it a priority to recapture Jerusalem and had ordered yet another crusade against the Muslim occupiers.
Pope Gregory has masterfully managed to persuade the newly crowned King Richard (Richard the Lionheart) to join the third Crusade; King Richard had a brilliant military brain and was held in the same esteem as the Muslim leader Saladin.
Richard the Lionheart set off immediately to confront Saladin in the Holy Lands, Both were military masters, both were well respected men considered to be military geniuses, in fact they had so much mutual respect for each other that it almost led to the negotiation of a truce before the battle even began.
Richard the Lionheart was having some great victories during the third Crusade battles against Saladin; however, his progress was suddenly halted when news from England came that his brother John had started rebelling against him in England, this meant that Richard had to leave the Crusades and return to England to take care of business at home.
The Christian armies led by King Richard in their conquest to recover the Holy Lands made great advances during the third Crusade as Saladin's armies lost many strategic locations such as Acre Jaffa. Saladin and the Muslim armies had managed to retain the most important prize of all however, the spiritual city of Jerusalem that the Christian armies had wanted and this led to the last and final fourth crusade being launched.
The focus of the fourth Crusade was as before to recapture the Holy city of Jerusalem from the Muslim armies, many strategic gains in the previous Crusades strengthened the Christians resolve and this was a final push to recapture the spiritual city of Jerusalem.
Initially the crusaders had intended to take back Jerusalem via Egypt however for whatever reason these plans were changed and the crusaders of western Europe decided to invade the city of Constantinople instead which at that time was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, these peoples were on the same side as the crusaders before this attack.
The crusaders were not able to hold this territory that they had captured for long due to its location and the resistance from surrounding countries and this bad mistake eventually led to the end of the crusades altogether.
The fourth and final Crusade weakened the crusaders armies and led to their eventual decline, morale was low and this led to the collapse of any serious attempts by the crusaders to capture the Holy Lands again during medieval times.
The Muslim armies continued to defeat the crusaders and they managed to win back Acre in 1291 which was the last Crusader held city and the medieval period of the crusades came to a complete end.
The Crusades finally ended in 1291 when the Muslims recaptured Acre.


The present album is the first in Rafael Toral's "Space Solo" series and the second materialisation of his "Space" program.
Whereas "Space" (Staubgold, 2006) featured an orchestral approach to composition (and thus a diversity of elements), "Space Solo 1" presents the listener with music which is narrowed down almost to a point. Everything is concentrated on a single element. The key feature of this music is that it was performed with a degree of skill, a commitment and a depth of exploration that could not be found on an orchestral record like "Space". On this album, Toral appears as a musician who simply plays an instrument on an individual, human and physical level.
One cannot help but notice that Toral is opening up a new dimension in music – and maybe also in language. When the renowned British music magazine The Wire recently ran a large feature on Toral's new project, the last sentence read thus: "It seems that mere words are far from able to convey everything a human being may wish to express." Toral's new project is just that: A new mode of expression.


Creative Morning, Baltimore's presentation entitled "Collaboration!" was perfectly timed. Baltimore is a collaborative town, and the results are great for our community. Collaboration in Baltimore's food community is attracting attention by chefs and business owners in other parts of the US. During my Food Journey in the UK last week I wondered how the well-known foodie of Brighton UK is embracing collaboration. Last week I met Kanthi, owner of Curry Leaf Cafe and Olivia, Marketing Guru at Terre a Terre. I asked the question, "how well do the community of restaurant-owners collaborate in Brighton, UK?".
-- Improving staffing. In the UK right now, finding quality staff is difficult but sharing information makes it a little easier. When restaurant owners collaborate on a regular basis, job reference inquiries are simpler because the network of owners is already established. Asking other owners for qualified staff member to fill positions is easier has been another wonderful benefit.
-- Improving branding. Improving their marketplace by attracting ideal customers with good messaging is clearly the result of communication among owners. While each restaurant has it's unique mission, often young restaurant owners need confidence to stick to their original concept. More experienced owners happily share their experience, and teach the importance of good messaging. This is a fantastic and positive outcome of collaboration. Rather than being protective, owners see that the differences and nuances of each brand is not threatening. In fact it improves Brighton as a foodie destination.
-- Collaboration creates a new and positive environment for owners. Higher standards are set for the restaurant community in Brighton, UK. Cooperative spirit among the restaurant owner means each individual restaurant can stretch farther. And as the idiom says, "the whole, is greater the sum of the parts". Chefs and restaurant owners of London's best, look at what is happening in Brighton, and are impressed. Collaboration is improving the standards.
Collaboration and cooperative spirit present today is such a refreshing change over protective and closed business methods, just ten years ago. Let's hope it becomes common in foodie communities around the US, and around the world.


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Iranian athlete snatches gold medal at 2021 World Youth Table Tennis Championships
Helsinki (IP) – Iranian athlete Amin Ahmadian won a gold medal at the 2021 ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation ) Finland International Open.
Iran Press/ Europe: In his first match, Ahmadian defeated the representative of Denmark, and in the second match, he defeated the representative of Switzerland 3-2.
In the next step, the representative of Iran defeated the representative of Ukraine 3-0, and in the semi-final stage, he defeated an opponent from Belarus 3-0.
Ahmadian competed against the host country's representative in the final match and stood on the championship podium with a 3-0 victory.
The 2021 ITTF Finland International Open was held in Helsinki, with 60 athletes from 20 countries.
Three Iranian nationals enjoy ATTU membership
Category: Sport Iran Sports
Tags: Iranian athletesIran tennis
Iran lambastes attack on Baghdad airport
6.6-magnitude quake hits Kermadec Islands


Is your spouse's birthday coming up? Or is your anniversary just around the corner? Or is your spouse's love language "receiving gifts" and they could use a little "I love you, so here is a special gift," kind of reminder?
There are lots of ways to say "I love you!" - most of which don't need to cost anything. But, if you're looking for something a little extra special to surprise your spouse with, then gifts can be a great way to express your love and appreciation (and to nurture your marriage). Plus, we have a GREAT idea for you!
But before we get to that, let's chat about how to pick out the perfect gift for your spouse.
Selecting a great gift for your spouse can be hard... like really hard (okay, maybe not for everyone - but it is for us!). How do you know if your spouse actually likes your gift, or if they're simply smiling out of obligation and would immediately return it if they knew it wouldn't hurt your feelings?
1. Pay careful attention to what your spouse values.
Do they appreciate physical gifts, or are they more interested in sharing experiences? Do they value quantity (like LOTS of roses and boxes of chocolates) or quality (like that name-brand handbag)?
2. Consider something your spouse would get a lot of use out of.
For example, are they desperately in need of a new laptop or phone or whatever-they're-into-and-use-on-a-regular-basis? If so, that makes for a great gift idea because every time they use your gift, they'll think of you and remember how much you love them and how much they love you - talk about having a lasting impact!
3. Think about something new and exciting they may not have considered before, but you know they'd love.
Is your spouse a runner who has typically run on a treadmill but would love mountain biking in the hills near your home? If so, then surprise him or her with a bike. Have you typically gone on day dates together, but you know your spouse would love an overnight adventure? Then gift them an overnight stay at a bed and breakfast (babysitters lined up and all).
We recently discovered JORD watches... and they're pretty awesome!
They're a company that creates unique, one-of-a-kind, wood watches... yes, wood watches!
April knows I'm a huge watch guy. In fact, she often comments about all the watches I own...and how I can only wear one at a time (Watches are my guilty indulgence!).
April also knows that I value quality. I like nice things, and I like taking care of nice things.
On top of this, April knows that I always wear a watch - a few of which she has given to me (even if she let me pick them out for her to conveniently give to me). When I wear the watches she's given to me, not only do they tell me the time, but they remind me of her.
So what did April do this past week? She teamed up with JORD and got me a JORD watch for my upcoming birthday (lucky me).
I've been wearing my JORD watch everyday for the past week and have really enjoyed it. It's a really cool watch. It's lighter weight than most of my other watches and has a great look with the wood. And best of all, this watch has automatic movement so you never have to change a battery (a pet-peeve of mine). It's pretty unique and I've already been stopped a few times by random individuals who have asked where I got it. I tell them it is from JORD and my wife gave it to me (Which hopefully motivates them to do something nice for their spouse!).
After discovering JORD, we wanted to share it with you. In fact, you can get $20 off any of their watches and be entered to win $75 off any of their products by simply signing up for their newsletter. Pretty sweet.
So if you're looking for something a little extra special for your spouse and watches are up their alley, then take advantage of the nice discount we've hooked you up with and try out a JORD watch!


Notes: Made for sisabet as a treat for Festivids 2012. Dude, I thought you'd guess me for this vid immediately. But I also thought I'd told you that I did finally watch Carrie for the first time last year? Whoops. Thanks to jetpack_monkey for the last-minute beta that saved this vid's behind.
Thanks to all those who left lovely comments and feedback on the Festivid post(s)!


Specialising in a optical field is very similar to a medical practitioner specialising in particular medical fields. Optometrists can complete further study and training to receive qualifications in optical specialities.
A specialist can still provide the full service of an Optometrist but may also be equipped to deliver extra services.
Behavioural optometrists work primarily with children and their families to assist in the development of the child's visual abilities, allowing them to mature and grow as any child does.
Low vision optometrists provide a speciality service to anyone that has a limited to severe loss of vision.


This is a beautiful highly detailed reproduction of the famous 1700s Robbing Bandits gun / rifle called the "Highwaymen" of the era. It is was a combination of Pistol & Rifle that was called a "Blunderbuss" and made a terrifying sound when fired as well with flesh-devastating damage. It could be loaded with nails or any metal that would unleash terrifying wounds when fired. This very rare Pistol / Rifle is made to exact specifications (The original few are in museums with prices over 6 figures). This rare treasure is highly detailed with resin wood and real brass engraved accents. It has been made to exact specifications (It is non-firing and for display only). These were used 300+ years ago to charge, stop and rob stagecoaches. History preserves this weapon was one of the choice weapons by Highwayman / Robbers to terrorize traveling folks. It was a powerful weapon after pouring black powder and nails / anything metal into muzzle and firing it had a shocking & terrifying prominence. Features are in high detail and it looks exactly like the original. Length is 18" and weighs a hefty 5 pounds NEW in original box. This rare reproduction treasure will highlight any collection of 300+ year old museum piece was used to rob, protect and settle simple arguments.


I love to travel. When I had the opportunity to travel to China on business for the company I was more than excited! I love chinese food! Sondrel, an ic design services company, has two design centres there, in Xi'an and in Shanghai. This would be an opportunity to meet colleagues that I had only ever skyped or emailed up to this point. And for me personally this has now made a huge difference when I work together with them, back at my desk in the UK.
I was curious to quiz two of my Chinese colleagues, 2 physical implementation engineers, who are currently working here in the UK. They have both come from Shanghai and are here for six months to work on project teams with engineers here. What do they think of the UK? Why become electronics engineers? I decided to find out.
Frank and Dan are the engineers in question. They both live and work in Shanghai. Frank studied at a university in Jiangsu Province, and excelled in physics at high school, moving on to electronics. Dan actually studied at the University of York in the UK. Her father is a lecturer in Electronics in China, and so she has grown up with this discipline as very much a part of family life. Frank is happy with his career choice of engineering. He believes that working to produce the high tech equipment that makes people's lives easier is a worthwhile pursuit. Dan enjoys putting the theory that she has learnt into practice, and has always aspired to be an engineer. She also likes seeing a real product emerge out of the design work that she has done.
Frank: This is my first time visiting the UK. It's a little bit different from what I imagined, because I imagined the UK to look like the Sherlock TV series, lol! But Reading is also very nice place, I like the air and the blue sky here and there are much less people here than Shanghai, Great!
Dan: Yes, I have been to the UK before. Before I came here, I thought that cities in the UK may look similar to the places in the Harry Potter movies, castles everywhere, each building being hundreds of years old, and the people here all with royal nobility. However, after coming here, I find that the cities here are a combination of modern and classical, and the people here are very warm and friendly, and they all from different cultural backgrounds.
Dan: There are lots of delicious foreign food restaurants in Reading, like sushi, Italian pasta and Chinese food. And I like the UK's carrots very much, it is said that British carrots is a vegetable that contains the most vitamin A in the world!
Frank: Not Bad. I can eat British food, Italian food or Indian food here. If want to have some Chinese food, I can buy it in the supermarket.
When asked about how they thought the trip might benefit them as physical design engineers, they were both very much in agreement. There are a lot of experienced engineers working in the UK office, and they both felt that this experience of working with them has made them better engineers. Dan commented that the parameters of her understanding around her core skills as a physical implementation engineer have grown, as she has experienced working with other engineers that have, for example, Design for Test (DfT) skills.
Frank: I practiced my English, which I have less chance to do in China.
Dan: Most my colleagues here are from different countries. After talking with them I can learn a lot about different cultures. For example, talking with Santh (an India girl), I now know what an India wedding looks like; talking with Khalid (a Morocco guy), I will never discriminate against Muslims, or misunderstand the relationship between Muslin and ISIS; after talking with UK local colleagues, I know even the new British generation are facing house price pressure.
Dan: I think the biggest challenge is speaking professional English. My project manager has been very patient in listening to me explain my project status in our weekly meeting. And my team members also have been very patient to listen the issues I have encountered and to help give me some suggestions to solve the problem.
Q: What have you liked most about your time here?
Frank loved pizza so much, he took a picture for his album!
Dan: I have made a lot of friends here, and went to Gilly's (a work colleague) home once. This experience let me see what British peoples real life looks like; it's fantastic.
Have you travelled whilst you have been here to see other areas of the UK?
Frank: I travelled to Cambridge, York, the Lake District, Edinburgh and of course London. It was a nice trip.
Dan: I have been Oxford and Bicester Village. Bicester Village has lots of big brands at low prices. It seemed like a shopping paradise, especially for women!
And both seem keen to do more travelling in other parts of Europe. Dan is keen to the elegance of Paris, and Frank would like to explore France, Italy and Greece.
All in all, I think that for both of them, the trip has been very worthwhile – and not just for them, but for all of us here in the UK office too. At the Sondrel headquarters, Frank and Dan have also met colleagues that usually work in Morocco on this trip, and joined us for a football game with a colleague based in Italy. Meeting colleagues face to face, even for a short space of time can create a relationship that emails and skype messages can't achieve. It brings us all together, as a team, regardless of what part of the world we normally work in. As we have grown as a company, travelling and working between our 5 main design centres has become increasingly important so that we stay connected, exchange ideas and communicate well with one another. And ultimately stick together as a team. It makes us function better within our project teams, and its great fun to connect with different countries and cultures around the world.
You can read more about what its like to work for Sondrel, and explore our current job vacancies in the Careers and Culture section of the Sondrel website, or contact us with any questions.


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Oscar Best Picture Odds 2023: Here's how likely all 10 shortlisted movies are to win the Academy Awards - from The Fabelmans to Avatar
Oscars 2023: Latest odds for Best Actor award - from Austin Butler to Paul Mescal
Kenobi: What day does Kenobi come out, Obi-Wan Kenobi Rotten Tomatoes ratings, and what time is Kenobi Episode 4 on Disney Plus in the UK?
Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen made a chilling return to the Star Wars universe.
By Rachael Davies
7th Jun 2022, 1:36pm
One of Star Wars' most beloved Jedis made his return in a prequel TV show of the same name: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Scotland's own Ewan McGregor reprised his role as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi, in a show taking place ten years after the prequel trilogy.
"It will be interesting to take a character we know in a way and show him – well, his arc will be quite interesting, I think, dealing with the fact that all the Jedi were slaughtered with the end of Episode III," said Mr McGregor in an interview. "It's quite something to get over."
With the first season now well underway, here's when each episode will release in the UK and how the show is rated so far.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 3: Who is Quinlan Vos in Star Wars?
What day does Kenobi come out?
New episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi release every Wednesday, airing on Disney Plus from 8am in the UK. You'll need a Disney Plus subscription in order to watch.
What time is Kenobi Episode 4 on Disney Plus in the UK?
Ewan McGregor will don his Jedi robes once more in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Photo: Disney.
This means that Episode 4 of Obi-Wan Kenobi will release on Disney Plus at 8am on Wednesday June 8th in the UK.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Rotten Tomatoes ratings
So far, Obi-Wan Kenobi has scored 87% on Rotten Tomatoes according to its Average Tomatometer, but just 59% overall for the average audience score.
Nonetheless, the Film Rating Study found that it's the most popular live-action Star Wars show so far, surpassing even the Mandalorian when you combine scores from the three major rating platforms, IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic. By this practice, the show scores 8.7/10, beating out Mando's 8.4.
The new poster for the show revealed the planned release date in 2022. Photo: Disney.
Ewan McGregorObi-Wan KenobiScotland
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Last Thursday, our Skipathon was held during the Active Week at school. Students, parents and the community as a whole were very generous in their support of our fundraising efforts as always and this year over €3,500 was raised! This money goes towards important resources for the school and we are extremely grateful for your continued support!
Following on from this, an award ceremony was held today to congratulate all the students who made such an effort in collecting money on behalf of the school. Well done to Mr Harrison and everyone involved!
Click on the picture below for more pictures of the prize winners!